This article is from page 28 of the 2008-04-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 28 JPG
THE old telephone exchange sits at the back of the Cooraclare post office, just metres from the new high-tech computer. For retired postmistress Moria Garry, both objects represent the huge change her career has taken during the past 41 years.
On March 31, Moira stood down as the local postmistress, but she will
never be too far away from the core of the small but busy post office, as she continues to assist the new post- mistress Gerardine Donnellan.
Moira took over the reins of the post office from her aunt’s husband – Martin Joe O’Doherty – in October Teter
A year later, she married Michael Garry and the post office was to play a central role in their lives and that of
their family for years to come.
Moira Garry has quite literally seen and heard it all as the centre for in- formation, services and advice for the rural west Clare village and sur- rounding area.
Up until the late 80s, the exchange was central to the services provided by this busy post office.
Moira remembers how her late hus- band Michael would get up in the
middle of the night to answer the ex- change. “We had a bell for it outside our bedroom door,” she recalled.
The exchange was a 24-hour day job, with Moira providing the only connection for many an ex-Pat and the family back home.
She always had the emergency numbers at hand – the doctor, the priest – and hers was one of the few exchanges in the country that had a minister on the local exchange – ““Co- oraclare 40”.
Just as the post office played a cen- tral part of Garry family life, so too did Moira Garry play a central role in the lives of other families.
Little Jessica O’Gorman was the fifth generation of the Gallagher- O’Gorman family to get a stamp from the former postmistress. “I put the stamp into her little hand. I have a picture with her,” said Moira.
Moira laughs as she recalls how she still continues to provide the local in- formation at the end of a phone line.
Since evening Mass has been shared on a monthly basis between Coora- clare and Cree churches, she often answers the phone to the question, “Is Mass above or below tonight?”
As well as the usual post office du- ties, Moria also dispenses 135 cop- les of